Indianapolis (April 16, 2014) – The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) today named 30 organizations from 15 different Indiana counties recipients of the Early Childhood Education Matching Grant, which will help provide quality early education for low-income children in Indiana.

The grant program, established by the Indiana General Assembly in 2013, allows high-quality, early care and education programs to apply for matching funds to serve 4-year-old children from families whose incomes are below federal poverty guidelines. It is separate and distinct from the pre-K pilot legislation that was approved by the 2014 General Assembly. In this program grants are awarded directly to providers statewide, while under the program created by this year’s legislation families in five pilot counties will apply for scholarships.

FSSA’s Bureau of Child Care began accepting applications for the matching grant in January. Applicants were required to have already achieved Level Three or Level Four in Paths to QUALITY TM, Indiana’s voluntary child care quality rating and improvement system. They were also required to secure a cash match from a community organization or other funding source.

FSSA received 35 applications for the matching grant. Thirty grants, totaling $1,457,733.50 have been awarded and another $1,539,859.50 in matching funds have been obtained by those grantees from foundations, United Way agencies, corporations, coalitions of public-private organizations and individual donors. These grants will be used to expand high-quality early education programs for low-income 4-year-olds.

The matching grant recipients and their counties are listed at the end of this release.
“This is an important step toward increased school readiness and academic success for low income children,” said Melanie Brizzi, Administrator of FSSA’s Bureau of Child Care. “The grants leverage public and private investments within high-quality community-based programs, including school-based, faith-based and nonprofit early learning programs. This approach allows many more at-risk children access to high-quality early education.”

The 2013 matching grant legislation established that $2 million would be available for two years, beginning in 2014. Grants awards will be effective July 1, 2014.

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